black-ish Premiere Recap: Mind the Gap

black-ish‘s Junior gets one step closer to becoming his own man in the show’s Season 5 premiere. So why is Dre so mad?

In a moment, we’ll ask you to grade Tuesday’s episode. But first, how about a little recap?

All of the Johnsons take Junior to school at Howard University, where he’s got a roommate from Brooklyn and a dorm room with plenty of space, and then Dre drags Bow away from kissing her “baby” goodbye so the family can do a little sightseeing. They return home two days later to find Junior, sitting at the kitchen island, eating cereal.

“I wasn’t really feeling college right now,” Junior tells his stymied parents, explaining that he’s decided to take a “gap year” between high school and college. Pops immediately deems the move “some white s–t.” Bow frets that “Everyone that I know that has taken a gap year is some rich kid who turns out to be a ski bum.” Dre’s boss cites research that says Junior, as a young black male, is already at a disadvantage when it comes to making financial gains later in life — and the delayed onset of school will only hurt him more.

The Johnsons try various tactics to get their oldest son to reconsider his choice. Dre brings him beer in an attempt to treat him like an adult. Bow gets Junior to admit that being at school freaked him out, but he doesn’t agree with her that his nerves will pass. “Being there made me realize I have no idea what I want, and I think I need some time to figure it out,” he tells her. Even worse? He’s got not one shred of a plan for how he wants to handle his year off.

Dre eventually kicks him out of the house, and Junior starts packing his things. Meanwhile, Pops points out that Junior’s situation is different from Dre’s, the same way that Dre’s was different from his. Though the older man still thinks a gap year sounds “like some white s–t,” he suggests that his son and daughter-in-law give the kid the trust he’s earned.

So Dre tells (well, begs) Junior to stay at the house so he can figure out his next step among people who love him. Junior agrees. But things won’t be exactly the same: Diane takes over her older brother’s bedroom, leaving the teen to bunk with Jack.

Now it’s your turn. What did you think of the premiere? Grade it via the poll below!